Australian Market Notably Lower

(RTTNews) - The Australian stock market is trading notably lower on Friday, extending the losses in the previous session, following the broadly negative cues from Wall Street overnight. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 is falling below the 8,700 level, with weakness across most sectors led by energy and technology stocks.

The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index is losing 59.80 points or 0.68 percent to 8,683.00, after hitting a low of 8,652.30 earlier. The broader All Ordinaries Index is down 60.20 points or 0.67 percent to 8,938.80. Australian stocks closed modestly lower on Thursday.

Among major miners, BHP Group and Fortescue are edging up 0.2 to 0.3 percent each, while Mineral Resources is gaining more than 2 percent. Rio Tinto is edging down 0.4 percent.

Oil stocks are mostly lower. Santos is edging down 0.3 percent, Beach energy is losing almost 3 percent and Woodside Energy is down more than 1 percent, while Origin Energy is edging up 0.1 percent.

Among tech stocks, Afterpay-owner Block and Zip are losing almost 2 percent each, while WiseTech Global, Appen and Xero are declining more than 1 percent each.

Among the big four banks, Commonwealth Bank, National Australia Bank and Westpac are losing more than 1 percent each, while ANZ Banking is down almost 1 percent.

Gold miners are mostly lower. Evolution Mining and Resolute Mining are losing almost 2 percent each, while Northern Star Resources and Newmont are declining more than 1 percent each. Gold Road Resources is edging up 0.3 percent.

In other news, shares in 4DMedical are skyrocketing almost 23 percent after the respiratory imaging technology company revealed a significant investment from health imaging giant Pro Medicus Ltd.

In the currency market, the Aussie dollar is trading at $0.643 on Friday.

On Wall Street, stocks gave back ground over the course of the trading day on Thursday after moving sharply higher early in the session. The major averages pulled back well off their best levels of the day and into negative territory.

The major averages finished the day just off their lows of the session. The Nasdaq edged down 7.23 points or less than a tenth of a percent to 21,122.45, the S&P 500 fell 23.51 points or 0.4 percent to 6,339.39 and the Dow slid 330.30 points or 0.7 percent to 44,140.98.

The major European markets also moved to the downside on the day. While the French CAC 40 Index tumbled by 1.1 percent, the German DAX Index slid by 0.8 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 Index edged down by 0.1 percent.

Crude oil prices settled lower on Thursday due to concerns of slowing energy demand amid a high-tariff global economy along with the August 1 deadline set by the US President for countries to strike a trade deal with the US about to expire in hours. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was last seen trading, down by $0.71 or 1.01 percent to $69.29 per barrel.